Dark Mage of the Zodiac
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: In an effort to save him, Harry's magic sends him to Fiore. The first person to find him is none other than the Dark Mage Zeref! How will the magic keys Zeref leaves Harry change his fate? Can the magic of the Celestial Yin and Yang keys coexists, or is this a match doomed to fail? BrotherlyLoki, SisterlyLucy
1. Chapter 1

It all started when he was five. That was the year his magic finally did something about the horrible conditions he was forced to live in because of a senile old man with dreams of grandeur.

He didn't know his own name, because they always called him freak or boy.

His uncle came home one night, drunker than ever. Today was the day the big promotion was announced...and he didn't get it. After a few shots of strong booze, he came home in a rage. Petunia shed away from her husband, while shielding their son from his father. To be fair, she didn't expect her nephew to come in at the worst possible time that day.

Even she wouldn't intentionally harm a child, no matter how much she hated her sister.

Vernon took one look at the brat who was dumped on their doorstep, and saw red.

The child didn't stand a chance. Petunia took Dudley to the next door neighbor's house, and called the police. Her nephew would be extremely lucky to live through this.

Right before the child lost consciousness, a flash of light came from the house, and he disappeared.

There was enough blood and a dislodged tooth to convict Vernon Dursley of abuse and child endangerment. They assumed his ravings were solely because of the booze. They never found the child again, and Petunia did her best to raise Dudley by herself. Sometimes she wondered what happened to her nephew, but resigned herself to being glad that she was still alive, and that her son was safe from her husband's rampage once and for all.

* * *

He woke up in a dead area. The plants and animals were lying around him, rotting. Standing in the middle of this destruction was a man.

He had short black hair and strange clothes. But it was the eyes that drew him.

Those eyes were dead and sad. Like he was in a perpetual nightmare that he could never break free of. He stared for about three seconds before passing out from blood loss.

By morning, the man was gone, but all his injuries were patched up with expertly placed bandages. Beside him was a strange ring with what appeared to be keys. Each of them had an animal, and appeared to be made of a chrome colored metal. The ring itself appeared to be obsidian in color.

To his left was a bag...and instructions on how to use the keys. He looked at that first.

_I do not know who you are, nor do I particularly care. The mere fact you survived being close to me long enough for me to bandage your wounds means you have a unique gift. Those keys will help you along they way._

_My name...is Zeref. For your sake I hope we do not meet again anytime within this decade, because I don't think you'll survive my magic twice._

_The bag contains two thousand jewels, which should be more than enough for you to make your way to the nearest town. The keys are considered Dark magic, so I wouldn't use them in public just yet until you learn how to summon properly._

_Good luck, little one, because in this world you'll need it._

The boy took the keys and hid them under his shirt. The pockets in the shorts he had on were so worn out anything he put in it would fall out. He took the bag and started walking.

* * *

It had been an entire month since he landed in this world, and he had learned early on that he wasn't in his original world anymore...and he was perfectly okay with that. He didn't feel the need to return to be honest.

Any time that particular urge came to him, he remembered vividly how his Uncle almost killed him. If it hadn't been for his magic (another useful thing he had learned was that he had a large quantity of the stuff) he would have died at the very least.

He would always be thankful to Zeref, even if he was classed as the Darkest Mage to ever live.

If it wasn't for him, he wouldn't have survived this long, or found his aptitude towards summoning magic.

Which brought him to this point. In a fit of loneliness, he had managed to summon one of the weaker spirits through the keys Zeref had left behind.

The Rat spirit was most helpful in showing him how to initiate and summon the others. The only one he _hadn't_ summoned at this point was the Dragon spirit, and that was only because his magic levels weren't ready for that step.

Dog had suggested Fairy Tail, mostly because word was that they allowed mages as young as him to join.

So he booked the first train to Magnolia.

* * *

Markov looked up when he felt the door open. He assumed it was Macao, who was due back today.

Instead it was a somewhat timid four year old with keys on his belt. Keys made out of what appeared to be mithril.

_Mithril keys...where I have heard of those before?_

"Can I help you lad?"

"I was hoping to join the guild," he said calmly.

"We don't allow civilians to join mage guilds."

"What about someone with magic?"

Markov looked harder at him. The child originally appeared four, but it was clear that he was around five or six. Clearly the misconception about his age was from neglect.

"Well that's a different story. What sort of magic do you have lad?"

"Celestial gate magic," he said shortly.

"We'll have to see a demonstration, but first why don't we get you something to eat," said Markov kindly.

He grinned. He didn't mind demonstrating his magic. Once he was done with his sandwich (Mirajane had made an entire plateful and it was gone in minutes) he went outside to summon one of the spirits.

_Open, Gate of the Tiger, Kisa!_

A large black and white tiger sprang out of the gate way.

"_You rang kid?"_ she rumbled.

The boy hugged the tiger tightly. He liked animals, and Kisa had always let him ride her back when he got tired.

Markov's jaw dropped, but for a reason different that the boy imagined. He had finally remembered where he heard of keys made of mithril that summoned celestial spirits.

"Where did you learn Dark Magic kid?"

He frowned.

"Kisa isn't dark. Just because something is black doesn't make it evil."

"_He's right. Those gold and silver keys reside on the Yang side of magic, while we live on the Yin. You can't live without something to balance the magic out."_

"Where did you get those keys? I can handle someone using them in the guild, not all magic is evil, but if the council tries to bother you I have to know."

"The man who saved me gave them. He said I had unique magic, and that it would protect me until I could stand on my own."

"Did this man have a name?"

"Zeff, I think..."

Markov could accept that, since Zeff wasn't that strange a name. There had even been this one mage he knew named Red Shoes Zeff, who could manipulate his magic through his feet. (And yes people I am referring to that chef in _One Piece._)

Strange man.

"Well then, we'll need a name and your age! Welcome to Fairy Tail lad!"

He grinned. This was the first time he had been accepted without question and people hadn't run from his magic.

Kisa left, happy to spend time with the brat again. Perhaps now they would have a name for him instead of kid or brat.

It was a week later when one of the kids finally gave him a name, since none of the adults could come up with one he agreed with.

* * *

Hoshi became one of the stronger mages in the guild in a short span of a few months. It took him less than a year to start taking A-rank jobs, and that without help. His spirits were soon a welcome sight to the guild.

It took him three years to reach S-class, by which time they had gained another new member. His name was Loki, and something seemed very familiar about him.

Because of that, Loki ended up having Hoshi as a roommate, though to be fair the boy helped pay the rent.

Hoshi was on a job getting rid of bandits, when he ran into a woman carrying keys. That was when the real trouble started.

"A fellow Celestial mage? Why don't I see what keys you have, hmm?" she purred.

Hoshi didn't like her voice. Clearly she intended to kill him and steal his keys if he lost. The first one she drew out was Gemini, which surprised him.

_Open, Gate of the Rat, Yuki!_

The large Rat sprang out of the key, displeased. While he was Hoshi's original summon, he didn't like to fight.

The woman's eyes widened, but a sneer quickly grew on her face.

"So you are the rumored Dark Zodiac Mage. Now I'm really interested!"

Yuki dodged Gemini's touch, and bit the woman's arm. She shrieked in pain, but threw another magic at him.

Yuki yelped, and looked at Hoshi, who quickly swapped him out for Padfoot, the Dog. Technically his name was Shigure, but the black dog reminded him of another dog, which was why Shigure allowed him to use the nickname.

Shigure took one look at this woman, who was vile and cruel, and snarled.

It took five minutes of biting, clawing, and slashing before the woman finally called Scorpio.

Who refused to come out because he was on a date with his girlfriend. Which meant she had to bring out Aries.

Hoshi had heard a rumor that Aries was friends with Leo, which was why he sent Shigure back and brought out Kisa.

It didn't take long for Aries to return to the other realm in defeat.

Hoshi sent out one final spirit to really cause problems. The Monkey retrieved the woman's keys, breaking her contract with them once and for all. She would have to find new Gold keys if she wanted to fight again.

* * *

Hoshi took out the gold keys, and then summoned the Dragon spirit.

"_You called little summoner?"_

"I have a question. Can I use both Yin and Yang keys?" he asked, holding up the three keys he had confiscated from that nasty woman.

The Dragon leaned closer, and looked carefully.

"_It is possible for you to use these keys, however I wouldn't advise summoning more than one of us at a time. The drain would be considerably higher than what you are used to, and you might pass out before you are capable of doing anything."_

"What if I were to train my reserves? Would that help?"

"_Possibly, but be careful who you summon. Aquarius, for example, doesn't work well with anyone from our Gate, and refuses to work with anyone from hers except for Scorpio."_

Hoshi blinked.

"Will I have any trouble with these three?"

"_I don't think so. Aries is particularly timid, especially as the last person to hold her keys for long abused her. Scorpio is alright, but don't expect anything out of him if Aquarius is out. Gemini likes to play pranks, but that's about it. If you get your hands on the minor spirits, they shouldn't be any trouble."_

"Thanks Hatori."

Hatori bows, and returns to his home set. Hoshi then holds out Aries first.

"Open, Gate of the Ram, Aries!" he commands.

Aries comes out, still wincing slightly from the battle the day before. It would take a while to heal, especially since Leo wasn't around to treat her wounds anymore.

Hoshi took out the kit he always had on him, and carefully begins to treat her wounds. She winced, but didn't complain.

"I'm sorry I had to be so rough with you earlier, but I didn't want someone to take my friends away, especially out of greed."

"It's...it's alright. I'm used to it."

"You shouldn't be used to being hurt. I should know. It took me years for the others to get me used to that fact myself."

Aries looked at him in surprise. She never expected her summoner to have a similar background.

"Just because you're timid or afraid doesn't give people the right walk all over you. It just means you need the right friends to back you up and be by your side."

Once he finished bandaging her wounds, he put up the kit.

"What do you say Aries? Would you like to be my friend?"

"Aren't you a dark mage?"

"No, I'm a Yin mage. I've never used the keys to hurt others. Just because they are on the opposite side of the magic spectrum doesn't make my keys evil."

Aries nodded. She actually agreed with that sentiment.

"I'll work with you. Call me whenever you need help, I'm always available."

"Thanks Aries-nee-san!" said Hoshi, tackling her in a hug.

Startled, she tentatively returned his hug. She wasn't expected her new partner to be so nice, especially with how vicious he was in a fight.

Hoshi summoned Scorpio next. He worked out an agreeable schedule, and agreed not to call him again for at least another month. Waving good bye and telling him to say hello to Aquarius for him, Hoshi prepared to bring out Gemini. Somehow, he knew they would get along great!

Gem and Mini came out carefully. Hoshi hadn't exactly gone easy on them during the fight.

"So you guys are the twins! Cool!"

That threw them for a loop. They really expected Hoshi to be a nasty brute who used his keys for bad things.

Instead they found a happy-go-lucky kid who loved pranks and bandaged the wounds he gave them. Scorpio had declined the same treatment, though he appreciated the thought.

Once Hoshi finished a workable schedule with Gemini, they plotted on how to prank the guild once they got back. The amount of chaos they could cause with Gemini's skills just begged to be unleashed.

* * *

Markov raised a glass when he saw Hoshi walk in the door.

"Hoshi! How did the mission go?"

"It went fine until this nasty summoner tried to steal my keys. I beat her and now she can't summon for a while," he replied, holding up the gold keys.

He had learned something important. Gold keys used up roughly the same amount of magic as Mithril, even if they were easier to find. As far as he knew, he had the only complete set of Mithril keys around.

"Which ones did you get?" asked Mirajane.

"Scorpio, Aries and Gemini."

At the word Aries, Loki tensed subtly. Only Hoshi caught it, and that was because he had taken to observing Loki. Something about him felt so familiar, and Hoshi had yet to figure out what. He was getting closer though. Every time he gave Loki a hug goodnight, he felt his magic being drawn into Loki.

"Can you use those keys?" asked Mirajane.

"Open, Gate of the Ram, Aries!" said Hoshi with a grin. It would do her some good to get to know the guild. They had broken him out of his shell, so they could do the same for her.

Aries showed up, understandably nervous, and was immediately accepted as part of the Fairy Tail family. Once she got over her initial shock, she slowly came around. Hoshi made sure to stay within hand's reach, helping her to socialize. It was because of that he caught the look Aries shot Loki.

It was shock...and recognition.

Once Aries went home (considerably happier with Fairy Tail than she was in her last guild) Hoshi waited until they went home before he confronted Loki.

Probably why he hadn't brought any of the girls home. Loki had a deal with Hoshi. He could bring ladies home, but only if he gave him a heads up first.

"You're a Celestial Spirit, aren't you?" asked Hoshi.

Loki sighed, "Yes. But I don't have a master."

"Judging by the way Aries reacted to you, you must be Leo."

Loki nodded miserably. He certainly hadn't expected the new kid to find out what he was _and_ retrieve Aries.

"It's not my problem whether or not you walk around without a partner. I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. But if you need help, I want you to know you can always trust me."

Loki looked at him, surprised. He hadn't expected that reaction.

"Why? Most people would try to force me to join them..."

"I don't like abuse any more than I do forcing others to do my work for me. I had enough of that back in my own world. If you can learn to trust me, then I can learn to trust you," said Hoshi simply.

Loki stared at him.

"Your world?"

"About two or three years ago, my uncle came home drunk off his ass angry over losing a promotion. He nearly beat me to death, and would have succeeded had my magic not intervened. When I came here, a man bandaged my wounds and gave me the keys I use. I came to Fairy Tail and have been there ever since."

Loki breathed a sigh of relief.

"I guess we're both outcasts then. I'm stuck here because I wouldn't let my previous master bully Aries anymore, and because I remained out she died while on assignment. One of the unbreakable rules is that we aren't allowed to kill our masters. So I'm stuck here even though the contract was broken by her death."

Hoshi thought about that.

"I don't know if I can help get you home, but perhaps I can help keep your secret. Anyone could have seen how Aries reacted to you if they were paying attention. And I can let Aries out to hopefully get over the abuse the last two masters she had. I know the guild certainly helped _me _on that front. I don't mind if she hangs out with you."

"How did you get her?"

"A mage recognized me and the keys I wore for what they were, and challenged me for them. I got the feeling she would have killed me if given the chance so I beat the Spirits she brought out and had Monkey steal all the gold ones she had. I've already signed the contract with them, so it will be difficult for anyone to take them from me."

And with that, Loki teamed up with Hoshi for missions. While he wouldn't sign a contract with him, he could team up with him like a normal mage.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Time skip seven years**_

Hoshi and Loki were an unbeatable team. It had taken all of two months for him to figure out how to help Loki stick around longer. The drain on his magic from Loki tipped him off that the Spirit wasn't doing as well as he pretended.

It had taken several experiments, a helpful Aries and Hiro and a lot of patience, but eventually Hoshi found a way to share his magic with Loki. Because he was able to summon the Yin Zodiac he was able to share his magic with the Yang Zodiac to help them last longer in the human world.

The Yin Spirits were used to the human world, and could last for at least three hours before they ran out of magic and had to return. They could last days with a strong enough summoner.

(Hoshi's current record was almost 48 hours on easy assignments, and 23 during battles.)

When asked about that, Hoshi learned a rather surprising fact.

The Yin spirits used to be human before they died and turned into summon spirits. And unlike the Yang Zodiac, they were geared more towards offense, which was part of the reason why they lasted so long outside.

Once he figured the trick to sending energy to the Yang spirits, Loki found breathing a lot easier. As a side effect, the other Yang spirits were able to last a lot longer outside their home.

* * *

Hoshi was eating his lunch when Natsu returned. He grinned, because the boy had once again caused widespread devastation and outright mayhem in a town. And this time he brought back a new member.

But his eyes weren't drawn to her face, or her outfit. They were drawn to the ring of keys on her waist.

He finished his lunch and hopped off the stool. Surprising the girl, he held out his hand.

"Hi! I'm Hoshi!"

"I'm Lucy."

"So which Gold keys do you own?"

Startled by that question, she answered without thinking.

"Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus, and a few minor spirits. Why?"

"I have Aries, Scorpio and Gemini, as well as the full Yin set."

That caught her off guard.

"What is the Yin set?"

Hoshi grinned.

"Yin, as in dark. They are the opposite side of the Yang set, which is the celestial spirits like Leo. While Yang is set towards Defense, Yin is better at offense."

Once Lucy got situated, she got into an in depth discussion with Hoshi. He had never come across a _friendly_ celestial mage who didn't take offense at someone who asked what type of keys they had. Lucy clearly had the same problem, and was happily chatting with the thirteen year old. She had the guild mark placed on her hand, and watched in shock how Markov handled the rowdy guild.

She was pleasantly surprised that the old man was laid back, understanding that some mages simply didn't work well in structured guilds. People like Natsu or Gray.

"So how long have you been a mage here?"

"About eight years. Took me forever to be allowed on the second floor."

"What's on the second floor?"

"S-class missions. You have to be really good and really strong in order to survive those. I generally avoid them but I do take a few. Just not that often."

Lucy's jaw dropped. This kid was younger than her and he was already an S-class.

"How did you earn that rank? You're younger than I am!"

Hoshi looked a bit sheepishly.

"In Fairy Tail, we do a bit of a buddy system for reaching S-class rank. I teamed up with Laxus when he took it and we won that year. He may be a bit of a jerk and look down on everyone because he a higher rank, but I like taking the easier jobs."

Natsu went to look at the mission board while Lucy chatted with Hoshi. She decided to change the subject.

"So who gave you the name Hoshi?"

"Natsu and Gray did actually. It took them all of a week to come up with a name that didn't sound ridiculous. They called me Hoshi because of the keys I carry."

"Did they ever give you a last name?"

"Raion. Because I like cats."

Lucy stared, but dropped the subject.

"So, what other magic can you do? I can use a rare form of Archive, a little bit of animal transformation (though I can't make it last longer than an hour) and some Ice Make."

"Um...just standard spells and the Celestial Gate magic."

"You do know that Aquarius isn't too fond of weaklings, right?"

"How do you know that?"

"Scorpio is her boyfriend. She complains about how weak you are magic wise all the time. I never knew who she was talking about until you showed up."

Lucy debated what to do, then made up her mind. While she loved her spirits, it would be nice not to have to worry about Aquarius blasting HER away for a change.

"Can you help me?"

Hoshi grinned, and suddenly she had an image of pain sent her way. This would not end well.

* * *

Natsu, when he learned of the agreement between his surrogate younger brother (though it was very, very hard to tell that, considering Hoshi was as tall as Gray was and was more mature to boot) and the newcomer Lucy, he had to get in on the action as well.

Hoshi had a feeling it would end up like this, which was why he was prepared for it.

"_Open, Gate of the Dragon, Hatori!"_

A long flowing body came out of the silvery gate, and there stood a man with black hair, some of it obscuring his right eye partially and sensible clothes. His eyes were what drew the most attention though. They were slitted like Natsu's got when he used his Dragonslayer magic.

"What do you need little Star?" asked Hatori.

"Since I'm going to be helping Lucy get stronger, I was thinking that perhaps you could help Natsu with his magic. As far as I can tell, he's been half-assing it this whole time," said Hoshi.

Hatori looked at Natsu, and then at Hoshi.

"He's barely three quarters trained. From his scent, he must be Igneel's brat."

"You know Igneel? Can you tell me where he is?" asked Natsu excitedly.

Lucy stared. From what Natsu told her from their first meeting, Igneel was a dragon. So why had it never occurred to him to ask Hoshi to summon the Dragon spirit earlier for info? Sensing that question, Hoshi spoke up.

"Hatori is my most powerful spirit out of the set. It takes a lot out of me to summon him, and that's if he deigns to answer. Apparently he's the healer of the Yin Celestial set."

"Only because none of them have ever bothered to learn more than basic first aid," said Hatori coolly.

Once, Hoshi had summoned him to meet the resident healer of Fairy Tail when their basic doctors wouldn't cut it. The two had hit it off, and Hatori had shared a few tricks the woman had used to cut the healing time in half.

He was easily the most popular spirit of the set on the battlefield.

"I'll train him, but he had better make it worth my time," said Hatori.

"Thank you Hatori!" chirped Hoshi.

They moved farther away, because every time Natsu used his magic a lot of property damage occurred.

"Right, so what I'm going to do is download some star based magic into your mind and we'll work from there. Hopefully we'll get your dependance on the spirits in a fight down to a minimum so you can hold your own without them."

Lucy gulped. And felt something press on her mind. Like a bubble bursting, knowledge seemed to pour into her memory before something took control and reorganized her mind to handle it.

When it finally let up, Hoshi had her sit.

"Now comes the easy part. Your mind isn't used to those pathways being open, so we are going to meditate and I'll help you reorganize things to the point where you can access them easily."

Lucy sat down, and listened to his voice. Idly she wondered if Hoshi knew his voice was that soothing, before he brought her back to task. He had to work fast before her brain rejected the new information and paths.

After an hour, Hoshi let up, knowing that if she hadn't gotten a ruptured blood vessel from the new info, then she was out of the danger zone. He liked working with younger mages, because once he got to work rerouting their magic it adapted within days. Soon Lucy would be able to work alongside Gray without holding him down, and later Natsu. She just had to build up her magic levels at this point.

She tried to stand up, but her legs weren't working. Hoshi went to work showing her how to kneed her limbs so that they wouldn't feel asleep once she stood up.

He had summoned Hatori once for that very task, and he had been more than happy to show him how.

* * *

Lucy was on her first official mission with Natsu and Hoshi. Hoshi, to insure that she could use the new magic properly, and Natsu, because the whole thing was his idea.

She was still getting her revenge by enjoying Natsu's inability to handle motion sickness. Hoshi had asked about that, and Hatori had given him an amusing answer for WHY Natsu felt sick every time.

Apparently Dragons, in their infinite power, had never traveled anywhere without either walking or using their wings. So in an effort to keep them from completely seeming all powerful and impossible to beat, the Creator made it so that they would never be able to transport themselves unless it was under their own power.

Which had Hoshi laughing, cause it sounded far too much like an add on to keep dragons from turning into the ultimate Mary-Sue/Gary Stu. He had no clue what it meant, only that the term had been bandied about on something called the internet in response to what was called fanfictions.

Needless to say Hoshi cheerfully abused his unique Archive technique to sate his fanfiction addiction.

Hoshi noted the discrepancy between the people and the house. Something didn't add up, and he couldn't figure out what. So he asked Natsu.

"Smell doesn't match."

Hoshi snapped his fingers. Now he knew what wasn't adding up.

"They were renting it weren't they?"

Natsu nodded. It was the most logical reason for the strange scent.

"Well, it's a good learning experience for Lucy either way," shrugged Hoshi. Plus it gave Lucy a chance to try her new magic outside of practice.

* * *

Lucy found herself in a bind. The creepy duke had her hands bound behind her, and he used the same type of magic.

It took her a good minute to remember Hoshi's magic lessons. He always held back during practice because he knew his magic was stronger.

The fact he could go up against an S-class and only have a few scratches was testament to that.

So Lucy did exactly what Hoshi taught her to do. Find her center, then fire.

Only problem was, when she came to the point of firing her magic, she _literally_ went on fire. Because it was her magic, and it wasn't stronger than a basic campfire spell, her clothes stayed the same.

But the effect was immediate.

Her punches, which she had sparred with Hoshi to produce, caused massive damage to the duke. For once she wasn't relying on her spirits to fight.

The flaming arrow did what it was supposed to do, though she did wonder why most of the new magic Hoshi gave her was planetary based in names...

"Yet another mission down the hatch! Always fun to work with you Natsu!" chirped Hoshi, as they left the mansion almost empty handed.

Hoshi had raided the library while the others were busy fighting, and Happy had the Virgo key from the creepy duke. Apparently the contracts never covered getting arrested, and the spirits weren't eager to work with a criminal who abused their powers.

Once they were back, Hoshi went to work helping Lucy bring her magic levels up to handle some of the 'Outer' magic spells he gave her.

Lucy had become like a surrogate sister to Hoshi outside of training, often helping him when it came to reading books. Strangely enough, while he could read any foreign or dead language with ease, he had real difficulty reading the language that was currently used.

It had gotten to the point where Hoshi called her Lucy-nee-chan out of habit, to the delight of Mirajane.

When asked why the transformation specialist acted like it was a good thing he took to her so quickly, Mira explained to the confused girl about Hoshi's problems with trusting adults. Lucy was the first person (aside from Loki) that Hoshi really took to without three weeks of getting used to them. Even the Master had to wait two weeks before Hoshi could handle a gentle hand on his shoulder, or a pat on the back without flinching.

Though it did worry her that he had a habit of pretending to be a young girl whenever he was bored. At least he didn't have habit of stripping without warning like Gray did...

* * *

"So one of the Dark Guilds is being a bit too active of late?" asked Hoshi.

"Rumor has it that Eisenwald is after a relic made by the Infamous Dark Mage Zeref," said his contact.

"Which one?"

"Lullaby."

"You mean the death sound one?"

"The very same."

"Be interesting to go up against that," mused Hoshi. He paid his contact and left.

Hoshi was the unofficial expert on all things related to Zeref. It had worried the old man at the time, but once he found out that Hoshi had no interest in duplicating the man's magic he let it go.

As he was having lunch the next day, he heard the most amusing news.

"Erza-nee is back?" he asked Mirajane.

The result was instantaneous. Natsu and Gray totally freaked the hell out. They both glared at Hoshi when he started laughing his ass off at their reactions.

Hoshi was one of the rare people Erza approved of, let alone listened to without trying to hit. The Master believed it was because they came from a similar enough background that she emphasized with him. In exchange Hoshi trusted her completely and allowed her to get near him without flinching once.

"Welcome back Erza-nee!" Hoshi called out cheerfully.

"Hoshi. I have a mission that might interest you. Natsu and Gray will be coming as well, so pack accordingly."

"You got it!" chirped Hoshi. He had a feeling this was going to be one of those really fun and bizarre missions. As such, he packed his special kit geared towards times he knew the chances all hell were going to break loose.

This was going to be one wild ride.


End file.
